


Dad At Work

by cruelest_month



Series: Kid Loki [7]
Category: The Avengers (2012)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Future, Family, Fluff, Future Fic, Gen, Kid Fic, Kid Loki, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-07-10
Updated: 2012-07-10
Packaged: 2017-11-09 14:13:59
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,359
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/456417
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cruelest_month/pseuds/cruelest_month
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Phil and Loki retreat to SHIELD (and the helicarrier) to cope with Clint's absence. (Loki is 5 years old.)</p>
            </blockquote>





	Dad At Work

Before Loki --and whenever Clint had been away for long stretches and on solo missions-- Phil had tended to hole up in his “home” office situated on the fifth floor of the Avengers Tower.

After Loki, Phil was pretty quick to pack up a bag and take his kid to work with him. The office he had on the helicarrier tended to be better. For one thing, the ride there would always distract the kid from crying. For another, Phil could get more work done away from the Avengers.

Their mornings without Clint fell into a simple routine – breakfast, Xavier’s for a few hours, and then to SHIELD where Fury would pretend not to remember who had approved of this nonsense for at least twenty minutes.

The first morning of week two was no exception. Fury had wandered in to find Phil doing paperwork while Loki drew on scrap paper with bright crayons. The Director had walked right back out again, muttering under his breath. Fury returned fifteen minutes later with a cup of coffee, a cookie on a plate, and a juice box with a picture of an apple on it.

Fury knelt down by Loki, handing him the cookie and sticking a straw in the juice box before straightening up.

“Thank you,” Loki said.

“You’re welcome,” Fury replied before looking over at Phil. "You're lucky I need you, Coulson."

Phil didn’t looked up from the form he was correcting. "Loki's really not much more hassle than anyone else around here, sir."

"Then you're lucky he's a good kid--"

"Look what I drew!" Loki exclaimed, tugging on Fury's trench coat sleeve.

Fury looked down at the paper in Loki’s hand, brushing a few fingers over a hunter green blob that was fighting an olive green one. "That's very nice, Loki. Is that the Hulk?"

"Yes, and he's fighting the Abomination."

"The Big Guy's going to win, right?"

"He has to win or he gets in trouble."

"That he does," Fury agreed. "Make sure you get some actual work done today, Agent. I expect to see you both in the cafeteria at 1200. Lunch is a very important meal."

Loki saluted him before picking up a purple crayon and getting back to his picture.

“Is the floor all right?” Phil asked after awhile. “There’s room on the desk if you’d rather use that.”

“I’m good.”

“Are you sure?”

Loki smiled at his artwork. “Yes, dad. I like the floor. It’s cold.”

“Is it too warm in here?”

Loki rolled his eyes as he looked up. “Father… I love you very much, but I am trying to draw.”

“Ah. Sorry."

Half an hour later though, Loki abandoned his art and crawled into his father’s lap. Then he eyed all of the paperwork in horror.  “But… There’s more than there was before. And you’ve been working this whole time!”

Phil laughed. “I’m just a bit behind, that’s all.”

“Can there still be lunch?”

“Yes, and then I have a meeting. Do you think you can be nice to Deputy Director Hill for a little under an hour?”

Loki wrinkled his nose. “Maria keeps trying to make me dust things. And she’s still mad at how bad a job I did with putting things in alpha… Um…”

“Alphabetical order,” Phil supplied.

“Yeah.” Loki sighed. “She timed me. She said I was slow. And she didn’t like how often I had to sing the ABC song to remember.”

Phil frowned.  “What about Sitwell?”

“Jasper talks about you the whole time. It’s boring.”

Phil laughed.

“What about Agent Wilson?” Loki asked, looking hopeful.

“Hell no.”

“That’ll be a dollar,” Loki said holding out a hand in what was a really amusing imitation of Clint.

Phil laughed again and kissed Loki’s hair. “Nice try, but Hell is not really a swear word.”

“No?”

“No. Hell is where parents get sent when they leave their children with Agent Wade Wilson.”

“I like Wade. He’s funny.”

“That’s nice.”

“He reads Captain Underpants to me. With the sound effects.”

Phil absolutely hated those stupid books, but he’d learned to keep his opinion to himself. Loki tended to give up on things Phil or Clint expressed a negative view on. And Phil was outgunned seeing as he was alone in his loathing.

“That’s nice too, Loki… But no. No, I think I’ll see if I can find someone else.”

Phil took a look at the schedule for the agents he trusted, and noted that Natasha would be coming in for some sort of psych eval. So he sent her a text asking if she’d babysit in exchange for his making the testing requirements disappear.

Nastaha sent back a Y immediately. When she arrived, she had a stack of Mo Willems’ Elephant & Piggie books under her arm.

“Aunt Nat!”

Natasha smiled and scooped Loki up, tossing the books to Phil. “Hello there, dorogoi. Hello, Coulson.”

“Hello and thanks,” Phil said. He ruffled Loki’s hair before heading to the door. “Just don’t make him do any housework.”

“As if I would,” Natasha called after him.

-

When Phil came back, Natasha was holding Loki and singing in Russian. Loki’s cheeks were tear-stained, but the song was apparently cheering him up. He even laughed at some of the lyrics since, like Thor, Loki understood all languages.

“Why can’t you ask about the raspberries?” Loki asked. “And why is nothing anyone’s business?”

“People shouldn’t be nosy,” Natasha told him.

“That’s silly.”

“It is.”

Phil cleared his throat before leaving the doorway. He closed the door behind him as he moved over to his desk. “Everything all right in here?”

“Yeah. Daddy called.”

Natasha looked apologetic about answering her phone, but Phil shook his head. Loki would have cried one way or the other. He was still not convinced he’d get his parents back whenever they went away. So far Clint’s solo missions happened more, but Coulson’s job was to monitor the Avengers and most of them tended to remain in one place. Or at least near one particular area.

“How’s daddy doing?”

Loki shrugged. “Good. He’ll be back soon.”

“Friday at the latest,” Natasha added.

Two more days then, but every little update helped. “Did Clint say anything else?”

“He sang a song for me because I made him,” Loki said, looking smug. “Then said he loved both of us very much.”

“He’d better.”

“I should probably find work to do before I get in trouble,” Natasha murmured, hugging Loki gently before setting him down.

“No! Story first,” Loki insisted, latching back onto her.

Phil shook his head. “How do you ask for a story, Loki?”

“Story first. Please?”

Natasha put a hand on a hip, looking thoughtful. “How can I say no,” she muttered. “One story. If your father says it’s okay.”

Loki gave Phil wide and pleading eyes.

Phil chuckled. “All right, all right. One story would be fine.”

Loki grinned and shifted through the pile of books. Eventually he selected _I Will Surprise My Friend!_ and handed it to Natasha.

“Okay, but you have to read some of it too,” she said. “You’re the one who still needs to learn something. Not me.”

Loki laughed before nodding his agreement.

They sat on the floor and read together while Phil typed up a few reports and weighed the pros and cons of promoting several Junior Agents. He eventually decided to give them a few more months and to give each one of them a separate assignment with Thor so they could have a better idea of what they needed to contend with out in the field.

Giving Phil a crafty smirk, Natasha pretended to stealthily grab _Should I Share My Ice Cream?_ from the edge of his desk. She read it with Loki before rising to her feet.

“Thank you, Aunt Tasha,” Loki said. He wandered back over to Phil and curled up against his father’s shoulder once Phil picked him up.

“You’re welcome. So. I have a clean bill of mental health?”

Phil smiled. “As clean as it gets around here. It’s all taken care of.”

“You’re the best, boss.”

“I do what I can.”

-

The next day brought several more visitors as various agents had apparently heard about Phil bringing his son to work. They were all Junior Agents, and one of them even brought a plate of cookies. Loki tolerated her cooing over him, but in general he seemed to hate the attention.

After she left, Loki had taken refuge under Phil’s desk with several rubber dinosaurs.

When two more people stopped by, Loki had tried burrowing under Phil’s jacket and started making unhappy sounds.  

Keeping his tone polite but very pointed, Phil dismissed the unwanted guests, and refused to allow anyone else into his office. Once he’d changed the key code on his door to one that only Fury and Clint would recognize, Phil carried his son over to the couch. Then Phil read to Loki until his son was willing to peer out again.

“Sorry, dad.”

“Don’t be sorry. It’s okay,” Phil murmured, stroking Loki’s hair. “They’re just trying to earn some brownie points.”

“Agent Nancy made cookies not brownies.”

“Brownie points aren’t like real brownies. Agent Jacobs and all the other agents just want me to like them. In order to do that, they’re trying to get you to like them too.”

“I like the ones that didn’t come visit.”

Phil laughed. “I’ll keep that in mind when it’s time to do their annual performance reviews.”

“Can daddy come home early? He’d make people back off. He’d scare them away.”

“He’s very good at that,” Phil agreed. He couldn’t help looking amused when his son gave him a baleful look. Loki was oddly protective of both of his parents for such a little boy. He was also very quick to pick up on anything resembling an insult when it was being directed at Clint. “I’d like to think I did an okay job just now.”

“You did great,” Loki insisted. “I just miss daddy.”

“I know exactly how you feel.”

“Can there be less work?”

Phil glanced discreetly at his watch. “I think we’ve earned a break. Possibly even a nap.”

Loki grinned. “Naps! Naps are awesome.”

“They’re pretty good,” Phil agreed. He stretched out on the couch, smiling when Loki curled up on top of him.

“Does daddy take naps if I’m not with him?”

Phil smiled as Loki snuffled at his neck. He loosened his tie, flinging it towards a chair before wrapping his arms around Loki’s small shoulders. “I’m sure he does.”

“Does he get lonely?”

“No. He might be alone wherever he is, but that’s temporary so he’s not lonely. He has us. He’ll always have us. And whatever stuffed animal you snuck into his suitcase.”

Loki laughed. “Henrietta went with. I thought you didn’t notice.”

“It’s hard not to notice an electric blue hippo, kiddo.”

“I wish I could have gone with.”

Phil closed his eyes and yawned. “No, you really don’t. But. Maybe we could go on a real vacation soon. Just the three of us if you want.”

“That would be cool.”

Phil grunted, feigning sleep in order to get Loki to head in that direction himself. He stayed awake until Loki drifted off, sent Clint a brief and mushy text, and then took a nap.

-

He woke up to a loud banging, which was followed by a muffled curse and then the door opening.

Phil allowed himself a smile as he glanced behind him. Then he pulled himself up into a sitting position. Loki remained asleep, but then he was a heavy sleeper once he was finally out.

“There they are. My favorite two people in the world,” Clint announced quietly, strolling over to the couch. He gave Phil a deep kiss before stroking Loki’s hair. “Doesn’t look like he’s been crying.”

“Not yet. We had a close call.”

Clint frowned before picking Loki up. He snuggled their sleeping child for a bit then set him down on a small pile of couch pillows.

“What kind of close call?” Clint asked, sitting down and wrapping his arms around Phil.

“We got cookies from overzealous minions. And you know how Loki gets.”

“So that’s why the usual codes didn’t work.”

Phil smiled. “He preferred me reading to him and taking a nap to being fussed over.”

“He’s particular about the company we keep,” Clint said with more pride than Phil felt the observation deserved.  He kissed at Phil’s neck and sighed happily. “I missed you.”

Phil kissed Clint’s cheek. “I missed you too. I even saved you some cookies.”

“I love you.”

“You ought to. Everyone keeps telling me I’m the best.”

Clint tightened his grip. “Lousy claim jumpers,” he muttered. “Everyone had better keep their hands off if they want to keep their hands.”

“Look at you being jealous,” Phil teased.

“I’m tired and when it comes to people that matter, Loki takes after me. I’m rarely in the mood to share my family with anyone ever.”

Phil ran a hand through Clint’s hair. “Hard mission?”

Clint kissed Phil soundly on the lips before answering: “Nah. Routine. It’s being away that’s hard.”

Phil nodded. They stayed like that for a while until Loki’s eyelids started fluttering open.

Loki was, as per usual, ecstatic to see his daddy. He gave Clint an enormous hug and latched onto him. “You’re home! And early for a change.”

Clint laughed as Loki rested a small chin on his shoulder. “Yeah well. Henrietta was getting antsy and I wanted to surprise you.”

“You’re the best surprise ever.”

 “Better than cookies?”

“Way better. Father should give you a lot of brownie points.”

Clint gave Phil a questioning look.

“I could see my way to giving daddy a few of them. Provided he gives me some incentives to keeping him around,” Phil mused.

“Oh, I’ll give you some incentives,” Clint cheerfully threatened.

“Can those incentives include dinner?” Loki asked hopefully. “Naps make me hungry.”

“Dinner it is,” Phil readily agreed.

He made an effort not to laugh at how quickly everyone scattered when Clint escorted his family down the hall and off of the helicarrier.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you, fangirlSevera for the awesome beta as per usual. And thank you everyone who has been reading, kudos-ing, and commenting on this series! More fics will be posted soon. :)
> 
> The song Natasha ended up singing to Loki is Juniper on the Hill ([Kak na gorye Kalina](http://www.kaikracht.de/balalaika/english/songs/kakn_bal.htm)). Dorogoi means dear, expensive, darling, love.


End file.
